Overview
- Former India batter Manoj Tiwary alleged head coach Gautam Gambhir influenced selection chief Ajit Agarkar to remove Rohit Sharma as ODI captain, a claim not responded to by the BCCI, Gambhir or Agarkar.
- Assistant coach Ryan Ten Doeschate’s remark that Rohit’s low ODI scores may reflect limited match practice drew a public rebuke from Tiwary, while Ravichandran Ashwin criticised the omission of Arshdeep Singh from the first two New Zealand ODIs; the series is 1-1 before Sunday’s Indore decider.
- For the New Zealand T20Is starting 21 January, Washington Sundar was ruled out with a side strain as Ravi Bishnoi came in for all five games, and Shreyas Iyer was added as cover for Tilak Varma for the first three matches.
- At the U19 World Cup in Bulawayo, India captain Ayush Mhatre did not shake hands with Bangladesh’s stand-in captain at the toss, and opener Vaibhav Suryavanshi scored 72 to become the youngest to hit a fifty at the tournament and pass 1,000 youth ODI runs for India.
- In Varanasi, protests over demolition during Manikarnika Ghat’s redevelopment prompted a site visit and press briefing by CM Yogi Adityanath as the government released new design images, while in a separate case the ED filed a chargesheet alleging fake doctor appointments and Rs 13.10 crore in diverted funds at Al-Falah University.